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Wow ... very effective with the mood, the animation, the VA'ing and the music ... very, very effective. Just very well done, downright eerie and well told story. At least so far.

I am impressed. And I generally do not like "horror" type stories. 8 of 10 vote for me for this ep. Very well done without being "artsy" or "pretentious".

This one looks like a keeper for now.

I couldn't agree more with everything that you wrote. I'm totally on the same page with you on everything here, except I'd rate the episode 9/10 (but then I'm an easier rater than many ).

Like yourself, I'm generally not into "horror" type stories, but this anime does it with such intrigue, mystery, style, and class, that I just can't help but to love it.

Another is thus far delivering everything I could possibly have hoped for from this anime given how it promoted itself.

Of the Winter 2012 anime premiers I've watched so far (and there's now a few of them), this is my favorite.

A couple notes:

1. Loved how the "transfer student" trope was somewhat subverted here. We had actual normal conversations where the transfer student in question addresses each other student in turn. The irony here is that this subversion gives us normalcy which in turn likely masks some horrible secrets.

2. I'm pleased with how this is horror/mystery played straight. Ookami Kakushi mixed in a lot of harem hijinks and the like, which I felt often caused that anime to fail to have an effective horror/mystery atmosphere. Another thankfully takes the opposite approach. By keeping dialogue and character interactions very "down to Earth" overall, Another makes the creepier parts stand out more against the backdrop of that normalcy.

The promotional art for Another immediately drew me inside the world of the novel for the upcoming anime, and what was my surprise that I recently found out that the novels were written by the husband to Fuyumi Ono, author to the Ghost Hunt and The Twelve Kingdoms novels.

My reactions for the first episode were just simply impressive because the narrative and the storyline clearly exploit the ghost story elements, and the visual elements add strongly to both the sense of suspense and lingering dread.

For example, we have:
1. A seemingly normal, countryside town far away from the big cities. But, even at day, it looks like a gloomy ghost town because hardly I could see any living soul outside their homes.

2. The archetypal Japanese middle-school (or high-school) compound facility host to long and foreboding hallways and creepy classrooms.

3. The background music denotes an effective feeling of madness and ethereal haunting.

4. The fact that save for Kouichi, everyone else and even the students behave with bizarre mannerisms when questioned or asking questions; there's a cat in the bag, as they're explicitly hiding something from Kouichi.

5. Last, but not least, Mei who is another quintessential embodiment of the supernatural in flesh. Properly dressed in her school uniform, abnormal white skin, black pearl hair, a ruby-blood right eye, and a sinister patch that covers her left eye.

Spoiler:

If the opening started the show with a thorough account about Mei Misaki's tragic death from 24 years ago prior to the storyline, this means the Mei that Kouichi sees and the Mei of the urban legend are one and the same.

Nobody else at class can't see her except Kouichi.

Class-3 does P.E. session aside from the other classes, and various points throughout the episode either the teachers or the classmates address class-3 as separate from the other classes.

What I also like it makes for an effective narrative trick that the adults' faces are never shown when addressing the protagonists.

Important pieces thrown:
1. Kouichi meets Mei in Yomiyama Hospital inside the elevator, and she's holding a doll and goes to the second basement level to deliver something to her other half.

My Speculations
The opening for this show showcases strongly dolls and mannequins looking alike to lifeless corpses.

I believe Mei kept something nasty inside the doll she was carrying, and wherever direction she was heading in the second basement level of the hospital, this was the boiler room as shown in the sign, either she was going to get rid of it or her other half might be kept down there; her corpse, perhaps? or somebody's else?

2. Kouichi notes that on his first day of school later at P.E. Sakuragi comes with his right ankle bandaged, and what's more is that Akazawa was absent the whole day.

My Speculation
Maybe Sakuragi hurt her ankle in a domestic accident at home, or I hope that's it.

But, Akazawa absent when virtually the rest of the classmates are present could indicate three scenarios:
- Akazawa fell sick,
- Akazawa sort of suffered a mishap at home and got injured,
- Akazawa died from a freaky accident.

3. Kouichi sees Mei again at the rooftop and later questions if she recalls at all meeting him in the elevator at the hospital.

My Speculation

Either Mei is playing fool with Kouichi denying everything or she forgot.

But, since Kouichi's Mei actually is the Mei who has been dead 24 years ago, speculation proposes on me that her time of her recollection with Kouichi in the elevator got rewinded.

What's more is that something nasty is going to happen, which is possible that someone is going to die, as Mei ominously told Kouichi not to get close to her and see her anymore. What he would be looking for soon he would find out.

You know what the teacher said about everyone graduating in good health? I couldn't help but notice that health (or rather the lack of health) seems to be prevalent. The MC had a collapsed lung. The twintails girl was off sick. The freckles guy had a heart condition. Glasses girl had a sprained ankle.. Some of those students looked really pale. The building looks really worn down. And finally there's Misaki and that eye patch. There seems to be a curse going on.

Yeah that's one thing that definitely stood out. A line like that about health and then seeing the numerous conditions that seem to be going on in that class. Then you just have everyone acting strangely and clearly having something they are keeping hidden.

Definitely a first episode that sucks you right in. Should be interesting to see how things proceed from here. At any rate think the dad is the lucky one to be cooking in India far away from this story .

Aha, I always wonder why my parents told me it was bad luck to give 4 offerings to my deceased ancestors instead of 3. It's pronouced the same, but the word/character is different.

I guess I should mention that this is actually a pretty serious superstition in Asian culture (at least I can testify for Chinese culture). I may have passed it off too lightly. Just talking about death at all is frowned upon since it leads to bad luck.

OK, I'm a little late to the party, but I finally had a chance to see this. The OP a bit annoying, and yet creepy, so it did it's job of setting the mood, and what a mood this episode has. Very quiet, not very lively at all, and yet it has your complete attention, as if you feel that you'll miss something important.

Also, I agree with what someone said a couple pages back. It seems as if a curse has fallen over the school and the surrounding area. Multiple health issues among the students. Run down campus, etc.

The level of detail is quite nice. I also thought the scene where Saka...er...I mean Kouichi passes Mei in the car was executed nicely.

Spoiler for an observation:

I didn't read the entire thread so I don't know if this was addressed already. Did anyone else notice the arrangement of the classroom? Column 1: Girls. Column 2: Boys. Column 3: Girls. Column 4: Boys. Column 5: Girls. I wonder if this has something to do with what's going on, whether planned or coincidental. I haven't seen this type of arrangement in a anime classroom before.

Meh, unlike other people here, I found that the episode was too short. The 'hook' ain't there yet, and if it wasn't for the awesome art and eerie atmosphere, I'd already label this a dud. Guess it's mainly the problem with the episode format... everything was stellar quality, but just looking at it plot-wise, all I'm asking at the end of the episode is "so what? that's it?"

Meh, unlike other people here, I found that the episode was too short. The 'hook' ain't there yet, and if it wasn't for the awesome art and eerie atmosphere, I'd already label this a dud. Guess it's mainly the problem with the episode format... everything was stellar quality, but just looking at it plot-wise, all I'm asking at the end of the episode is "so what? that's it?"

The real shit doesn't begin to happen until further in....these stories all build gradually before exploding at a certain point.

Okay, I call it. By the end of this series, there's gonna be people stalking him or something, and we're gonna find out because the parrot's gonna be learning some new words xD. Also, the hospital visit in the beginning really reminded me of Higurashi for some reason.

I'm the only person on the face of this planet that likes the OP, lmao. Guess I'm a diehard AliPro girl to the end. (Although I DO very much agree that it doesn't fit the show.) I dislike the ED. Sounds boring and forgettable, which is super disappointing since I was looking forward to hearing new work from out of annabel. Oh, well. (At least it actually sounds appropriate to the show in that, as someone said earlier, it gives us a bit of hope for a possibly happy ending, if not a bittersweet one.)

The efficiency displayed by the other students during lunch in misdirecting the transfer student when he started sniffing a little too close to where the bodies were buried was the moment I bought in. I love that moment in suspense stories. It reminds me of Higurashi, and Rena's curt, too-quick "shiranai."

I admit that I spent a good portion of the episode playing "guess the horror trope" with the various quirks and imagery that were touched upon. Honestly, that's part of the fun of a mystery, though; the guessing.

The "health" related oddities are going to be worth keeping an eye on. Someone who actually knows medicine can correct me, but aren't collapsed lungs usually associated with physical trauma, or injury? I wonder if it's relevant that his father specifically mentions that he had it happen twice.

"Insular little town with secrets" can work wonders for a mystery if it's carried off right, and so far, Another has it down to an art. The class reps visiting early on came off as sinister, but the end of the episode flips the script, and implies that they're the ones who are afraid of him.

I'm the only person on the face of this planet that likes the OP, lmao. Guess I'm a diehard AliPro girl to the end. (Although I DO very much agree that it doesn't fit the show.) I dislike the ED. Sounds boring and forgettable, which is super disappointing since I was looking forward to hearing new work from out of annabel. Oh, well. (At least it actually sounds appropriate to the show in that, as someone said earlier, it gives us a bit of hope for a possibly happy ending, if not a bittersweet one.)

Will watch the actual episode later.

I like the OP too....just that it's more suited to some Victorian themed gothic....